Alphabet School

Lily flying her kite

Above: We had to move to the soccer field for more room to fly our kites!

Below: Our L shaped pretzels

For a little while now Lily and I have been doing "Alphabet School" a few days a week (or sometimes a little less- depending upon the week). She has LOVED it! We start off Alphabet School in our basement as I write the letter of day on Lily's little chalkboard. Then she tries writing it to (sometimes she gets it and sometimes she doesn't). And then we find a creative way to make the letter on construction paper (one letter might be in paint, another with glitter, another with popsicle sticks, etc...). We have been hanging all of the letters on the hallway wall going upstairs so that we can practice them from time to time. After that we try to do a simple activity involving the letter we are learning about. For "A" we zoomed around the house and pretended to be airplanes. For "F" we picked flowers in the backyard. For "J" we sorted a bowl full of jellybeans according to color and then ate some. For "K" we flew homemade paper kites. And just recently for "L" we made L shaped homemade pretzels. And to wrap up alphabet school I give her a pile of letter magnets and have her try to find our letter of the day in the pile and then do the same with a stack of letter flash cards. It's so simple and she just really loves learning. We are only up to the letter "L" and she doesn't remember all of the letters we have already done, but she is learning some of them and we are having a great time doing some hands-on learning together!

A Day With Friends

Eli on our hike

Lily and Hannah at the beach

The big hole that Brave and Alex dug at the beach

Exploring the coast while we wait for the guys to cook dinner

After dinner the kids had a great time entertaining Eli!

All of us (even our dog)!

Amazing swings at the ice cream place!

Brave and Joe were good friends in college and Brave was a groomsmen in our wedding. We visited Brave and his wife, Jennifer, a couple of times while they were living in Alabama. We were (and still are) thrilled when they moved back to Maine (more specifically to the same town we live in) two years ago! We love this family and we consider them good friends. But they are busy like we are busy and we don't get to see them nearly enough. So we were so very excited to spend an entire day with them in Bar Harbor in August. Oh, it was such a wonderful day! We hiked in Acadia National Park. We went to Echo Lake Beach. We had our own great lobster bake right on the coast (the most amazing spot that we had all to ourselves). And to top it off we went out for ice cream at the Old Dutch Treat (and played on their incredible swings in the back for quite a while)! And one of the best parts is that Joe and Brave planned the whole day for us! We need more days like this with friends like these!

Lily's First Pictures

We have been doing "alphabet school" a few days a week with Lily (more about that to come in a future post). The day that we learned about the letter "C" I decided to teach Lily how to use my camera. I was actually going to let her learn on our old digital point and shoot camera (we keep it around for times when taking my good camera is too risky- like in the canoe). But when I fired it up the camera was dead (as in crazy squiggly lines running through the screen). So I put on my brave face and let her lay hands on my good camera (while I was holding it of course- the thing is big and heavy after all). So here are Lily's first pictures! I toyed around with the idea of getting her one of those indestructible kid's cameras (my niece Brenna has one and loves taking pictures with it). But those cameras take horrible pictures. So for now we'll wait a year or two and then maybe get her an inexpensive real point and shoot digital camera. In the meantime I'll be brave every now and then and let her learn how to use mine!:)

Nervous

Yes, I'm a little bit nervous.

You see, I used to be a big worrier and have a fair amount of anxiety. I still am and still do a bit. But when I became a Christian (16 years ago this October) God started working on my heart. And so it's been 16 years of God teaching me to lay down my fears and to trust Him. I have experienced that peace that passes understanding. If you knew me in high school or college I have no doubt that you would notice a difference and yet I'm also still very much a work in progress.

I believe that God doesn't want us to be afraid. However, I do think that there is an appropriate place for concern. So the last few days I have been feeling a bit concerned (yes, maybe a little nervous too). It's because we are all sick. Lily's ear problem and apparent stomach virus has now turned into a nasty little cold that has infected the rest of us. Eli and I woke up Sunday feeling sick (with Joe rafting it was a looooong day).

Lily is doing well, but still a bit sick. More concerning to me is that she is complaining now that her ear hurts (the one with the failed ear tube). She's already on antibiotics so I'm hesitant to take her back to the doctor again (after last weeks doctor visits and ER trip). So I'll give it a few more days, but I am concerned for my baby girl and her left ear.

And I'm also concerned for Eli. After having a bad case of RSV when he was so young we have been told that as a result any illness he gets is much more likely to turn into a respiratory problem for him. And so it did the last (and only other time) time he was sick since RSV. In May he got a cold (again, just like the rest of us) and he developed bronchiolitis. So, when he woke up sick on Sunday and I could begin to hear and feel the gunk in his chest all those feelings from back in the spring when he was in the hospital came rushing back. Thankfully he seems to be doing okay. He is a stuffy, snotty, sweet little mess but the gunk seems to be coming out of his nose instead of staying in his chest and for this I am incredibly grateful. Of course it's only been a few days and thus we aren't out of the woods yet.

So yes, I am a little concerned/nervous for my babies. Please pray for them and for complete (speedy if possible) recoveries. I'm so grateful that I don't have to fear. So grateful that I can lay them in the loving hands of the One who loves them even more than I.

Rub-A-Dub-Dub: Both My Babies In A Tub

It's been almost 10 months now and I have yet to get a great picture of my two kids together. I've gotten some decent pictures. I've gotten good pictures of each of them individually while they are together in a picture. But...together...both of them in focus, making a somewhat reasonable face, somewhat looking at the camera...well, that picture is a bit elusive!:) I will get it though- I will!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub: Little Girl In The Tub

Pretty much as soon as she saw her baby brother in the tub of water she wanted in! And she even WANTED me to take her picture (which almost never happens). Well, she is our little water bug after all!